As a market close to $100 billion, fast-developing engineering plastics represent a future with untapped potential in the plastics industry. With impressive technological progress, the new generation of engineering plastics is not only enjoying growth in hotspots like electrical and electronics (E&E) and automotive, but also many niche sectors.

Market Value to Reach $90 billion in 2020

According to market research institute Ceresana, for the past several years, engineering plastics have been generating higher growth rates than standard plastics, and the global market value of these high-performance plastics is expected to increase to approximately $90 billion in 2020.

On a global level, E&E, as well as consumer goods, are among the most important sales market for many engineering plastics, and almost 25% of global demand originates in each of these two sectors. The third-largest market is the transportation sector.

However, on a regional level, notable differences become apparent. In
Western Europe, for example, transportation is the largest sales market; Asia Pacific, on the other hand, mainly utilizes engineering plastics in the production of consumer goods such as coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines, toys, and sports utensils, processing almost 30% of regional demand in this sector.

Meanwhile, individual products also show distinct differences in application areas. While transportation accounts for 35% of polyamide (PA) consumption, household and consumer goods are the major application area for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).

Expanding Production Capacity for Prosperity

Faced with the blooming market, many leading engineering plastics suppliers have confirmed facility expansion plans, boosting output to meet the growing demand.

Early this year, Röchling Engineering Plastics inaugurated its first thermoplastics plant in India, planning to produce approximately 1,000 tons of engineering plastics in this year. The 35,000-m² new plant manufactures sheets and profiles of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and its variants, and sheets and
rods of polyacetal (POM), PA, and their variants.

Solvay has also been aggressively expanding its production capacity in Asia, particularly China. At Chinaplas this year, Frank Laganier, Solvay Engineering Plastics Asia Pacific Region director, revealed the company aims to have over 50% of its production capacity in Asia. He added that the company is going to expand its engineering plastics compounding capacity in China by 25% next year.

Regarding China, BASF has undertaken some key capacity expansion projects for engineering plastics at its Shanghai site, including Ultramid PA and Ultradur polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which are being used in automotive parts and E&E applications. The compounding plant’s total capacity for Ultramid and Ultradur compounds has doubled from currently 45,000 to more than 100,000 metric tons per year, making it the company’s biggest engineering plastics compounding facility in Asia Pacific.

BASF will also build a compounding plant for Ultramid PA and Ultradur PBT in Yesan, Chung Nam Province, Korea. The new plant is expected to operate at the end of 2015, with an initial annual capacity of 36,000 metric tons. With the new facility, the total compounding capacity of BASF’s engineering plastics in Korea will be more than doubled.

Driven by increasing demand in the transportation, construction, high-speed railway, and E&E sectors, BASF estimates the Asia Pacific market for engineering plastics will grow on average by about 7% per year.

Similarly, to meet the growing needs in the Asia region, Celanese announced continued investment in, and expansion of, its joint venture agreements with Polyplastics in Malaysia, Korea Engineering Plastics in Korea, and SABIC in Saudi Arabia. These agreements will deliver key POM grades produced exclusively for Celanese customers in the Asia region.

Latest Innovations for Different Application Realms

Acceleration in updates of requirements from customers and regulations is driving material suppliers to come up with innovations for different application sectors. As there is urgent need to reduce weight, energy consumption, and CO₂ emissions without sacrificing performance in many industries, new generations of engineering plastics were thus designed for being lighter and more efficient and allowing greater design freedom.

Electrical & Electronics

One of the key developments in engineering plastics has been their increasing use to substitute thermosets, in particular, in the E&E sector.

To stress the potential of engineering plastics, Royal DSM cited the latest change to the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) 1077 standard, which is widely applied in the USA and South America, for supplementary protectors in electrical equipment. Following the change, it is possible for engineering plastics to be used in applications such as miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) in the Americas, where until now it was hardly possible to use materials other than thermosets. MCB producers will hence benefit from the new design freedom and lower costs offered. According to DSM, cycle times can be trimmed by at least 40%, material waste is reduced, and recycling is simpler. Housings in engineering plastics are also more robust, since the materials are more ductile than thermosets.

At K 2013, Solvay Engineering Plastics launched Technyl One, which is a new patented polymer technology designed especially to address miniaturization challenges in electrical protection products. In contrast to high-temperature matrices, Technyl One allows a wide processing window, accurate filling, and good surface aspect even at 50% glass reinforcement. In addition, there are no corrosion drawbacks for tools and injection molding machines, helping manufacturers to minimize their production costs.

The first grade introduced is a halogen-free flame retardant solution that demonstrates very good fire protection behavior. With a UL94 V0 flammability rating at a wall thickness of only 0.4 mm and unmatched thermal aging properties (150°C electrical relative thermal index), Technyl One bridges the gap to high-temperature polymers. The application profile is complemented by outstanding electrical properties, including a high comparative tracking index (CTI of 0 for 600 volts and higher).

DuPont also launched a new halogen-free flame-retardant nylon 66 with enhanced thermal aging. The new Zytel FR grade uses a patented combination of flame retardant, nylon base polymer, and stabilizer to improve melt stability, flow, and surface appearance, and reduce mold deposits. The new grade, available in a 25% glass-reinforced version, has similar a flammability rating and CTI rating when compared with Technyl One. Suitable applications include insulating elements and housings for circuit breakers, contactors, transformers, and motors.

Automotive

Applications of innovative engineering plastics represent one of the mega trends in the automotive sector.

Ford Motor Company just unveiled a multi-material lightweight vehicle (MMLV) featuring polycarbonate (PC) glazing from SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business. This window glazing, which is made of SABIC’s Lexan PC with an Exatec E900 plasma coating, offers a 35% weight reduction compared to the same one on a 2013 Ford Fusion model. It is 1 mm thicker than a glass window but weighs 7.4 pounds less.

In addition to weight saving, the PC glazing also improves the thermal insulation of the passenger cabin due to its lower thermal conductivity compared to glass. By reducing the load of a vehicle’s heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system, SABIC says CO₂emission can be cut by as much as 3 g/km, and the range of electric and hybrid vehicles can be extended by 2-3%.

There are great demand demands for PA in the automotive sector. A new generation of automotive exhaust gas recirculation temperature (EGRT) sensors is being made with DSM’s Stanyl ForTii high performance PA. EGRT sensors were previously made with liquid crystal polymer and polyetheretherketone (PEEK), both of which are more expensive than PA. As Stanyl ForTii is able to withstand continuous-service temperatures up to 300°C, it offers a more economical alternative without sacrificing thermal performance, structural properties, and chemical resistance.

DSM has also recently introduced its Stanyl PA 46 for automotive chain tensioner slide shoes, which is said to reduce CO₂emission by up to 2 g/km and reduce fuel consumption by 1%. According to the company, by using Stanyl PA 46, slide shoes can achieve a 25% lower coefficient of friction and reduced CO₂emissions compared with PA 66, with 4-7% higher wear resistance. In addition, Stanyl PA 46 better meets the harsh operating conditions of engines of large cars and diesel cars.

Medical and Food Contact

The wide scope of engineering plastics applications includes the medical and food packaging industries. As regulatory authorities keep on updating safety standards, material suppliers have to innovate to upgrade their products, thus contributing the fast development of engineering plastics.

For instance, the EU Commission Regulation 10/2011 (Plastics Implementation Measure) will be fully implemented by the end of 2015, and the latest developed glass fiber-reinforced product Victrex PEEK 90GL30BLK EU meets this latest requirement, together with other current American and European requirements.

And meanwhile, at K 2013, Bayer MaterialScience presented a small mechanical injection pump made with PC that fits comfortably into one’s breast pocket. Patients can thus administer their own medicines with high mobility, security and dosing accuracy.

New Energy and Electric Vehicles

New energy and electric vehicles (EVs) also drive the demand of engineering plastics. For example, in order to meet the rising demand of the photovoltaics (PV) industry, DuPont has introduced two specific grades of DuPont Rynite PET for PV applications.

For materials suitable for applications in EVs, the hydrolysis-resistant PBT Ultradur HR from BASF not only stands out positively in customary static tests for damp-hot environments, but also passes the demanding climatic cycling tests of USCAR standard class 5. The company now offers Ultradur HR with integrated flame retardency and laser transparency. 

Emerging as More “Green”

There is no exception for engineering plastics to continuously follow the “green” trend, and recent development lies in composites, bio-based materials, and high-performance recycling.

To better meet requirements for materials in the automotive sector, composite materials, such as glass mat-reinforced thermoplastics (GMT), long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT), and carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP), are showing increasing market potential.

Many innovations of composite materials come from new combinations of base materials. For instance, PC and polyetherimide (PEI) are now being used as base materials for low-density GMT which have used polypropylene (PP) as the base material for many years. The new generation of GMT brings many benefits, including high flame retardancy, high toughness, short cycle times, low processing cost, and more environmental friendliness.

Lanxess and Genomatica have started running a production campaign of bio-based PBT in Lanxess’s world-scale production plant, using 20 metric tons of bio-based 1,4-butanediol made with Genomatica’s commercially-proven process. The properties and the quality of the resulting bio-based PBT are fully on par with conventional petro-based PBT with regard to all tested parameters.

Recycled plastics are perceived to be used in low-end applications only. However, new technologies developed by material suppliers allow post-consumer plastics waste to be used in high-performance applications. For instance, SABIC’s ValoxiQ PBT resin, which incorporates up-cycled water bottles, is used for the brackets of the side air deflection system for all seven models in the 2012 Volvo VN platform of heavy trucks.

This article originally appeared in China Plastic and Rubber Journal.